PEWAUKEE
The Pewaukee Chamber of Commerce is creating a new strategic plan
months after welcoming a new executive director.
Derek Miller, who joined as the executive director in October 2019,
welcomes the challenge of rebuilding the chamber in 2020.
Miller 35, has a background in construction and is a business owner
himself. He owns two businesses in Pewaukee, The Tile Group and
Derek Scot Design.
After all of my discussion with current members and the research I
have done, we have decided to rebrand ourselves as a
self-improvement chamber, Miller said. Were going to focus all of
our efforts on personal growth and with that personal growth, the
result of that is business growth. Personal improvement would be
business improvement.
The chamber is working on discovery efforts to aid the rebuilding
development, which includes new initiatives created to bring value
including focus groups and round tables.
Once we create that core of people that are servant leaders, well
become not only business professionals but better husbands, better
wives, better bosses, better parents and better communicators. That
type of energy is for me, the energy that I want to be around and
Ive been getting that feedback, Miller said.
The new executive director believes that their new direction will
benefit in that the focus group can gather likeminded individuals
that want to focus on building themselves personally. Like lots of
chambers in the 21st century, they struggle with a certain stigma.
Any organization that has been around for a long period of time, the
culture and the world changes around it, said Miller. Business
owners had a bad taste in their mouth from the chamber whether its
from the 13 different executive directors in the last 17 years or
just doing the same old, same old. Its just the feedback I was
getting was negative, said Miller.
Participation was dwindling but recently between seven to 10 new
members were added to the chamber and three new board members.
Those new businesses are businesses that are either re-fired up to
join or rebuild or just new businesses that started in the area,
Miller said.
One note that people need to understand is that Im a business
owner myself with business partners and great teams that I built.
This chamber is not mine; I am the executive director but this
chamber is the members and Im doing this on a part-time basis to
help build the chamber, said Miller. Im hoping that the
membership and the people that are involved and any of the
fundraising we do at our events, take the resources and put them
back in the businesses and collaborate through interdependence
through the community.
